Right now, the friends list isn’t just used for friends. It’s also used as a way to keep groups together while world hopping, joining Invite or Invite+ instances, or avoiding public worlds. As a result, people often end up adding complete strangers simply because the current system encourages it.

A typical scenario is that you meet someone, they invite another friend, who invites another, and before long you’re in a larger group that wants to stay together. To make that work, you’re expected to exchange friend requests so everyone can join each other. Those people may be perfectly nice, but they’re still complete strangers that you probably never intended to add in the first place.

That’s the part I don’t like. Friend requests should represent an actual friendship or an ongoing connection - not be a requirement just to play together for an evening.

One of my biggest concerns is that this system encourages complete strangers to establish persistent connections purely for convenience. It’s entirely possible for someone in their 30s or +40s to end up with teenagers on their friends list - not because either person intentionally wanted to stay in contact, but simply because they happened to be in the same world-hopping group and exchanging friend requests was the easiest way to stay together. I don’t think that’s a good or necessary design choice. A game shouldn’t be encouraging complete strangers of vastly different ages to add each other just to access basic social features.

I’ve genuinely ended up in situations where I’m in my mid-30s, I met someone in their 30s, they knew someone in their 20s, who knew someone else, and before you know it you’re connected to a whole chain of people you otherwise never would have added. None of those people necessarily did anything wrong - it just isn’t what I want my friends list to be used for.

I’ve even got a friends list called “Remove in Time” for people I only added because it was the easiest way to keep the group together. The fact that I need a list like that suggests the friends system is being used for something it wasn’t really designed for.

The obvious answer is “just remove them afterwards,” but that isn’t always as simple as it sounds. If they’re still part of a wider friend group, removing them can create awkward situations or hurt feelings. Some people struggle to make friends, and I don’t want someone to think I’ve rejected them personally when the reality is that I only added them because the game encouraged me to. As a result, a lot of people leave those connections in place simply because they don’t want the drama or feel guilty removing someone they only added out of convenience.

I do appreciate the addition of Notes. They’ve definitely made it easier to remember who people are and who I only added temporarily. However, Notes don’t solve the underlying issue - they just make it easier to manage a friends list that’s grown because the system encourages temporary connections to become permanent ones.

A temporary party system would solve this much more naturally. Players could create a party, world-hop together, share invites, and remain connected for the duration of the session without everyone needing to exchange friend requests. Once the party ends, it simply disappears unless people choose to become friends afterwards.

Since VRChat already has Groups and group-based portals, I imagine this could build on existing systems rather than requiring an entirely new social framework. For example, someone could create a temporary party by placing a party portal. Anyone who walks into its activation area joins the party automatically. The party leader could manage invites and disband the party when the session is over. If the leader disconnects, ownership could automatically transfer to another member etc.

To me, the friends list should be exactly that - a list of people you intentionally chose to stay in contact with. It shouldn’t double as a workaround for basic group functionality, especially when doing so encourages complete strangers to establish long-term connections they never intended to have in the first place.

Not to mention coming back after a few months to a huge list of virtual strangers you don’t recognise and having to go through removing them one by one because you have no idea who they are. It just feels like unnecessary clutter created by the current system.